State v. Wells, No. 00-0324.

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
• Writing for the Court: CADY, Justice.
• Citation: 629 N.W.2d 346
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Edward Henry WELLS, Jr., Appellant.
• Docket Number: No. 00-0324.
• Decision Date: 31 May 2001

629 N.W.2d 346

STATE of Iowa, Appellee,
v.
Edward Henry WELLS, Jr., Appellant

No. 00-0324.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 31, 2001.

As Corrected June 12, 2001.

Rehearing Denied July 3, 2001.

629 N.W.2d 349

Rod Powell of Powell Law Firm, P.C., Norwalk, for appellant

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Richard J. Bennett, Assistant Attorney General, Kevin Parker, County Attorney, and Diana L. Rolands, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered en banc.

CADY, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment and sentence following a jury trial for two counts of livestock neglect in violation of Iowa Code section 717.2(2) (1997). The principal issue presented is whether the State can bring multiple serious misdemeanor charges of livestock neglect when the charges stem from the same uninterrupted period of neglect. We affirm in part, reverse in part, vacate the sentence, and remand for resentencing.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Edward Wells, Jr., operated a boarding house for horses on a farm near Cumming, Iowa. Wells boarded his own horses, as well as horses owned by others. As manager of the horse facility, Wells was responsible for providing adequate sustenance to the horses. Wells had been around horses nearly his entire life, and was familiar with the practice of care.

On November 16, 1998, the Warren County Sheriff's Department received an anonymous telephone call informing them that dead horses could be found in the northwest field of Wells' farm. Deputy Sheriff Rick Champ investigated the report the same day. As he drove on the road next to the farm, he observed two dead horses on the northwest corner of Wells' field.

Champ took several photographs of the dead horses from an area adjacent to Wells' property. Champ then stopped at Wells' residence to discuss the report. Wells acknowledged he was the owner of the two dead horses. Wells and Champ then walked through the field to the location of the dead horses. Champ observed the two horses were extremely thin. The bones of both horses were clearly visible to the naked eye. In his experience as a police officer, Champ had observed numerous dead animals, many of which had died from starvation. From his personal experiences and his own observation of the horses, Champ concluded malnourishment was the cause of death. He informed Wells

629 N.W.2d 350

he would return the next day with a search warrant to seize the animal carcasses

Champ subsequently applied for a search warrant to obtain evidence to substantiate his findings. In the application for the warrant, Champ described the emaciated appearance of the horses and concluded the horses had possibly died from starvation. Champ explained the purpose of the search warrant was to retrieve the carcasses so a veterinarian could perform tests to determine the cause of death. The district court issued the search warrant.

Champ executed the warrant the following day. He was accompanied by Dr. Brian Brennan, a doctor of veterinarian medicine. Champ took more photographs of the horses, while Dr. Brennan conducted autopsies on both horses. Shortly after the execution of the warrant, Wells gave a statement to Champ in which he claimed both horses had died in a storm approximately one week earlier. Wells believed the two horses had been struck by lightning.

Dr. Brennan took tissue samples from one of the horses during the autopsies. He did not take samples from the other horse because it had been partially consumed by scavengers. Both of the horses had begun to decompose. The samples were abstracted from the horse's heart, liver, kidney, and intestine. Dr. Brennan rendered a preliminary finding of starvation as the cause of death in both of the horses. He then sent the tissue samples to the Iowa State Diagnostic Lab, where Dr. Patrick G. Halbur further examined the samples. Dr. Halbur was a doctor of veterinarian medicine, as well as an associate professor of pathology at Iowa State University.

Dr. Halbur concluded the horse had been mobilizing its stored body fat. He believed this was caused by either malnourishment or metabolic disease, but was unable to conclude which of these two conditions actually caused the horse's death.

Considering his personal observation of the horses, the results of the autopsies, and Dr. Halbur's analysis, Dr. Brennan concluded both horses had died of starvation. As a result, Wells was charged with two counts of livestock neglect in violation of Iowa Code section 717.2(1) and section 717.2(2).

Wells filed a motion to dismiss one of the counts. He contended section 717.2(2) prohibited the State from filing multiple charges of livestock neglect when the death of the livestock stemmed from a single uninterrupted period of alleged neglect. Wells also filed a motion to suppress, alleging the search warrant was not supported by probable cause. Wells further claimed the photographs taken by Champ during the execution of the search warrant should be suppressed as irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial. Champ took twenty-three photographs.

At the hearing on the motions, the State suggested a motion in limine, not a motion to suppress, was the more appropriate template for raising the issue of the admissibility of the photographs. Wells then offered to set forth the issue in a motion in limine at a later time, but acknowledged the court could properly rule on this issue by suppressing the photographic evidence as fruits of an illegal search. The court did not comment on what motion constituted the proper method to address the issue.

The district court denied the motion to suppress and the motion to dismiss. Additionally, the court found thirteen of the photographs were admissible, but held the remaining ten photographs were inadmissible due to their inflammatory nature.

At trial, Champ described his observations of the dead horses and the crime

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scene, as well as the circumstances surrounding the execution of the search warrant. Dr. Halbur explained the tests he performed and his conclusions

Dr. Brennan detailed the analysis which formed his finding of starvation. He found no fat surrounding the abdomen or heart, which suggested to him that the horses were forced to utilize their stored body fat in the absence of adequate nourishment. In addition, Dr. Brennan found no evidence of any other causes of death, such as metabolic disease. Moreover, he could find no indication the horses had been struck by lightning or were the victims of other adverse weather conditions.

Wells testified on his own behalf, as did David Spiering and Carrie Flynn. Spiering had provided Wells hay to feed his horses during the period of time prior to the discovery of the dead horses. Flynn was a former employee of Wells, and was working for Wells when the horses died. Wells described his care and maintenance of the two dead horses, as well as the other horses on the farm. Furthermore, Wells testified the two horses died in a storm, probably by lightning or from exposure.

Marlys Larsen was called as a rebuttal witness by the State. She was a neighbor of Wells and testified to specific instances of horse mistreatment by Wells. She also gave testimony of the community's adverse perception of Wells.

At the close of the evidence, Wells moved for a directed verdict, alleging insufficiency of the evidence. The district court denied the motion.

The jury returned guilty verdicts on both charges of livestock neglect. Wells subsequently filed a motion for new trial, contending the jury had been tainted after allegedly overhearing Larsen and her friend make disparaging remarks about Wells outside of the courtroom before closing arguments. An affidavit signed by Wells was the only evidence presented to support the claim.

In addition, Wells filed a motion in arrest of judgment. He argued the guilty verdicts were against the weight of the evidence as no expert testimony regarding starvation had been introduced by the State. Wells further claimed Larsen provided improper character evidence. The district court denied both motions. The court then sentenced Wells to one year incarceration for each count, but suspended the sentences and placed him on probation with a condition that he perform 150 hours of community service at the Animal Rescue League. The two sentences were directed to run concurrently.

Wells appeals. He argues the district court erroneously permitted the State to file multiple charges of livestock neglect under section 717.2(2) when the State acknowledged there was only one incident of neglect. Wells also argues the search warrant was not supported by probable cause and all the photographs should have been excluded from the trial. Finally, Wells claims the district court erroneously denied his motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment.

II. Scope of Review.

We review a motion to dismiss a charge alleged in a trial information for the correction of errors at law. State v. Johnson, 528 N.W.2d 638, 640 (Iowa 1995). Likewise, we review issues of statutory interpretation for errors at law. Id.

We review the district court's denial of the motion to suppress the fruits of the search warrant de novo because Wells asserts his constitutional rights were violated when the warrant was issued without probable cause. State v. Ortiz, 618 N.W.2d 556, 558-59 (Iowa 2000); State v.

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Prior, 617 N.W.2d 260, 262-63 (Iowa 2000); State v. Leto, 305 N.W.2d 482, 484 (Iowa 1981). Additionally, we review district court rulings on the admissibility of evidence and juror misconduct claims for an abuse of discretion. See Graber v. City of Ankeny, 616 N.W.2d 633, 638 (Iowa 2000) (general admissibility of evidence); State v. Powell, 400 N.W.2d 562, 565 (Iowa 1987) (juror misconduct); State v. Chadwick, 328 N.W.2d 913, 917 (Iowa 1983) (admissibility of photographs). Furthermore, we uphold district court rulings on sufficiency of the evidence claims unless the guilty verdict is not...